Finnish tie-up stable

Dutch stable

Austrian stable

Comparisation from our countries

The dairy production in all three countries were looking surprisingly the same at first. After a closer look you still can find some big differences. During the project we visited just a few farms (the time was limited) and the results we got are focused on those farms; there are no absolute truths and the ideas we got are just from those 5-10 farms from each countries - the situation can differ from the whole picture.

Stable

There were some differences in stables. In the Netherlands most of the stables are loose stall stables, though there are some tie up stables, too. In Finland the relation is the opposite: most of the stables are still tie up stables, but there are loose stall stables, too. In Austria the situation is similar to Finland: the older stables are mostly tie up stables and the new ones are loose stall stables.

In the Netherlands and Austria you can have open stables, but in Finland there is very few of those. Usually it is said, that it's because of the cold winter, but the same system works in Canada in as cold circumstances, so this could be worth thinking about. Of course it causes problems in manure removing system and water cups and you need to solve the problems another way. Then again the reason for warm stables in Finland could be that the farmer wants to work in warm place and you don't need to build another warm room for milking.

In warm stables one problem is the air quality. Bad air doesn't still seem to cause many problems for animals; maybe because their lifetime is usually less than ten years.

Diet

The diet of the cows in these three countries is also pretty similar: there are always people who like to feed with strong feeds and use lot of concentrates and then there are people who like to use as few concentrates as possible. In the Netherlands and Austria the silage is often made of English rye hay or maize, in the Netherlands they use sugar beet also. In Finland the silage is usually made of fescue; the rye hay doesn't overwinter in Finland and maize is not so sure to succeed in season. The grain and concentrate feeding don't differ much; it's up to the farmer and his goals.

Calf breeding

One of the biggest differences between the countries is calf breeding. In Austria and the Netherlands it is common to keep the calves in iglus and in Finland it's common to keep them inside and often they are in the same room with the cows. Iglus are a good cilmate for calf if the weather outside is tolerable; animals can handle cold well and in iglus the diseases are easier to keep in control. Calves that are kept inside might get the contagious diseases from the others easier. On the other hand the calves get the right antibodies into the same climate from the cows who live in the same room. Anyway it seems to be the best solution that the calves are grown in a separate building for young cattle or in iglus.

Diseases and insemination

These subjects are very similar in all three countries and so we didn't get too much into them. This tells that even though the systems might be a little different, the basics and the animals are still the same. In Austria and the Netherlands it is quite common to inseminate the cows yourself when in Finland the farmers usually call the inseminators to home visit. In Finland they also keep quite exact heat control calendars, but still Finland is situated between Austria and the Netherlands in statistics (link to the Health and fertility main page, click the link below the text), so there are good points in every system.

Back to "Health and fertility"

Page updated 23.5.2006